Updated 2004-Jun-12

PURPOSE

The custom tone curves available here were calibrated precisely to increase the brightness of D100 and D70 images by the equivalent of either +.33 EV or +.5 EV but with less risk of blown highlights than if you were to actually set EV compensation in the camera. These curves were designed to get the resulting tonality of a gray card, using all metering methods available, to equal medium gray, thus improving the tonalty of properly metered subjects.


DESIGN

The custom tone curves available here essentially decompress shadows and midtones while compressing the last 1/4th of highlight information. Unlike other custom tone curves available on the internet, however, these curves do not sacrifice overall linearity to accomplish this. Other curves may seem to hold highlights better, but only because they begin to compress tonality at an earlier point. The unintended result of curves such as these is inconsistent contrast in midtones. This limits the camera's latitude because with different exposures of the same subject, you will get different contrasts. For example, if you slightly overexpose a photo, you may get an extremely low contrast image, whereas if you slightly underexpose your photo, you may get a high contrast image. The custom tone curves available for download here are all linear with the normal tone, resulting in a consistent contrast from the shadows all the way up to the last 1/4th of highlights. Additionally, since color is optimized for the normal tone, curves that are linear with the normal tone will result in little to no color shifts or saturation loss. Rather than trying to give the appearance of holding highlights better at the expense of color and contrast, I designed these curves to accept pure white but to handle it with a smoother transition than the normal tone with EV compensation. As a result, images taken using these curves appear more film-like.


CONTENTS
1. White Wedding v3.5: This is a good replacement curve for D100 and D70 photographers who constantly find themselves having to use EV compensation to correct for dark images. It adds the equivalent of +0.5 EV to images while holding nearly 1/2 of a stop more highlight information than if you were to actually set the camera to +0.5 EV. It was designed with wedding photographers in mind who want bright images straight out of the camera with less possibility of blown highlights, even with flash. This curve is recommended for most users as a general use curve.

2. EV3 v3.4: This curve does the exact same as the curve above, however, it only adds the equivalent of +0.33 EV to images. This curve is recommended for users who find the White Wedding curve too bright.

3. Provia v3.4: This is a specialized curve designed to result in a satin-like quality that may be flattering to skin tones. It is very similar to Nikon's "Medium Low" tone setting with +0.5 EV. It is designed for use in high contrast lighting such as flash or direct sun or when you intentionally want to introduce a diffused quality to your images. It is not recommended in low contrast lighting.